Thyro-Cat, LLP

Pet News from Thyro-Cat

One of the world's largest travel websites will no longer sell tickets to tourists for animal attractions featuring wild animals or endangered animals held in captivity.

Attractions included in the new policy change are elephant rides, swimming-with-dolphin experiences and the petting of endangered species.

"We believe the end result of our efforts will be enabling travelers to make more thoughtful choices about whether to visit an animal attraction and to write more meaningful reviews about those attractions," TripAdvisor's chief executive and co-founder, Stephen Kaufer, said in a statement.

TripAdvisor's new policy does include exceptions, like feeding programs where visitors are under the supervision of zoo or wildlife officials, children's petting zoos with domestic animals and voluntourism programs.

In addition to the new policy, TripAdvisor is creating a wildlife tourism education portal, in partnership with leading animal protection organizations, that will inform the site's users who review attractions and general visitors about animal welfare issues.

While the company will stop ticket sales to a few attractions immediately, the new policy change will not be fully implemented until early 2017.